Deck Log Entry # 233 The Silver-Age Challenge---DC Edition IIII

[Commander Benson]

"Life," said comic-strip writer Allen Saunders, "is what happens to us while we are making other plans."  (Yes, I know that line has been attributed to others, most often, John Lennon, but the January, 1957 issue of Reader's Digest credits it to Saunders.)  In my case, I had Deck Log entries planned for May and June, but life happened to me.  No, don't worry, folks, nothing ominous.  Just a couple of normal upheavals of daily existence that got tossed at me at the same time.  Things have pretty much settled out, now.  But, it's the summer, and that means it's time for my annual trivia challenge.  Fortunately, I already had the quiz put together several months ago, so that was one "other plan" that life didn't derail.

 

 

An apt sub-title for this year's quiz might be "Leftovers".  Most of the questions you'll see below are ones I've held back for various reasons---they needed further research, they didn't fit the quiz theme for that particular year, they were difficult to word properly, or sometimes, I just plain forgot about them.  That last reason is particularly nagging, because I know there are still a couple of good questions that I've forgotten about and can't recall where I put the piece of paper on which I wrote them.  No matter, they'll be grist for a future quiz---if I ever remember them.

 

As always, I expect this will be someone's first encounter with one of my Silver-Age challenges.  For example, if you've stumbled across this while searching for something else, feel free to try your hand.  Better yet, check out the main board, Captain Comics Presents the Comics Round Table.  Odds are that you'll find something that interests you, even if you're not a comics fan, and it's a swell group of posters.

 

So, for those folks, it's time to cut and paste the rules:

1.  All of the questions, and answers, are drawn from Silver-Age material.  That is, anything produced by DC from the publication of Showcase # 4 (Sep.-Oct., 1956) to December, 1968, which I demark as the end of the Silver Age.  If your answer comes from outside that period, then it is invalid.  For example, if I were to ask “What is the space sector patrolled by Tomar Re, the Green Lantern of Xudar?” and you answered “Space sector 2813,” you would be wrong.  During the Silver Age, Tomar Re’s space sector was “9”; “2813” was a Bronze Age revision.

                      

The Silver-Age limitation is a tricky thing to keep in mind.  Even the veteran quiz-takers here slip up sometimes.  (Remember the “Per the Legion Constitution, who is the only person that the Legion Leader is answerable to?” fiasco?)

2.  I’m definitely not infallible, also something to which the long-time players will attest. I might have missed something, somewhere, in twelve years of DC publication.  If you come up with an answer that meets the criteria of the question and can cite the Silver-Age reference, then I will gladly award you credit.  “But I always thought . . . “ explanations won’t cut it, though.

3.  I’ve got no problem with anybody using a search engine to look for answers. I try to make my questions as Google-proof as possible.  The right answers are difficult to find with a search engine, though I cannot say impossible.  At least once, I tripped myself up when an article I had written for another site contained the answer to a question from that year’s quiz, and one of the players found it.

4.  There are no prizes. You’re playing for bragging rights.

 

And, as usual, so everybody can feel good about getting at least one right, I start off with a lob.  This time it's . . .

 

 

1.  Name the alternate-universe world which has no indigenous super-heroes, and here, committing evil acts is appropriate societal behaviour.

 

2.  Who is the majority stockholder of the Daily Planet?

 

3.  In the thirtieth century, the Planetary Federation stores forbidden weapons at what location?

 

4.  What team operated, for a time, out of an underwater headquarters left to it by Scientist X?

5.  The creation of rutherfordium caused what Silver-Age villain to change his name when he returned post-Crisis?

 

6.  In the Golden Age, he was "the Batman".  That definite article, "the", gradually lapsed into disuse and the Masked Manhunter became plain, old "Batman".  However, contrary to popular belief, even in the Silver Age, there were times when he was still called the Batman.  I know of at least four Silver-Age stories in which a character referred to him as "the Batman".  I'll settle for you naming three of them.  (For clarity, I'm not talking about sobriquets like "the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" or "the Batman of 2967", and they don't count.  I mean instances when someone referred to our Caped Crusader as "the Batman".)

 

7.  In one Gunner and Sarge story from Our Fighting Forces, the two Marines are joined by a new recruit named Billy.  Like many of DC's wartime supporting characters, Billy was given a nickname and went on to make regular appearances.  By what nickname was Billy better known to DC's World War II fans?

8.  Outside of, naturally, Detective John (the Martian Manhunter) Jones, who is the strongest officer on the Middletown Police Department?

 

9.  In military parlance, a "mustang" officer is one who enters the service as an enlisted man and later becomes a commissioned officer (as opposed to being directly commissioned into an armed force, as most officers are).  Name two of DC's war magazine headliners who were mustang officers.

 

10.  In the Silver Age, the Justice League of America responded to requests for help sent to them through the mail.  People who wanted to contact the JLA this way sent their letters to what location?

I’ll provide the answers next month.  In the meantime, I look forward to your answers and the commentary that always results from them.  I think, this time, especially in the case of question number six. 

 

Good luck, and more important, have fun!

[The Baron]

This is the only one of your questions that I've ever known off the top of my head:

Mr. 103, the old Doom Patrol villain, who became Mr. 104.  If he's still around, he must be Mr. 118 by now..

5.  The creation of rutherfordium caused what Silver-Age villain to change his name when he returned post-Crisis?

[ClarkKent_DC]

9.  In military parlance, a "mustang" officer is one who enters the service as an enlisted man and later becomes a commissioned officer (as opposed to being directly commissioned into the armed force, as most officers are).  Name two of DC's war magazine headliners who were mustang officers.

Well, Sgt. Rock became General Rock and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Lex Luthor presidential administration, but that entire episode and anything related to it never happened on Earth Clark Kent_DC.

So, as someone who has read pretty much every Sgt. Rock tale in Our Army at War and a fair (but not exhaustive) number of other DC war titles, I will hazard a guess that the answer is Lt. Jeb Stuart of The Haunted Tank and Capt. William Storm of The Losers.

[The Baron]

This one, on the other hand, I am less certain of.

Bridwell Communications

2.  Who is the majority stockholder of the Daily Planet?

[The Baron]

Pooch

7.  In one Gunner and Sarge story from Our Fighting Forces, the two Marines are joined by a new recruit named Billy.  Like many of DC's wartime supporting characters, Billy was given a nickname and went on to make regular appearances.  By what nickname was Billy better known to DC's World War II fans?

[The Baron]

The first answer that comes to mind is Earth-Three, but I don't remember it being established that committing evil acts was appropriate social behavior, else why were museum guards and police trying to stop them in "Crisis on Earth-Three"?

1.  Name the alternate-universe world which has no indigenous super-heroes, and here, committing evil acts is appropriate societal behaviour.

[doc photo]

4.  What team operated, for a time, out of an underwater headquarters left to it by Scientist X?

This is the the only one I can answer without research. The Challengers of the Unknown moved underwater after Challengers Mountain was destroyed.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

1. I'd guess Earth-3, but that's gotta be wrong.

5. This is the only one I'm fairly sure of -- Like the Baron says, it's Mister 103/4...

9. I don't remember the stories themselves, but I remember reading in a lettercol that Sgt. Rock had on several occasions been promoted to an officer, but would intentionally get busted back down to sergeant to get back to Easy Company. And the wording of the question -- "Name two of DC's war magazine headliners who were mustang officers" -- doesn't seem to exclude a temporary stay as a mustang officer. So I'm guessing Rock is one, if that old letter column is steering me right. 

[Philip Portelli]

Question 1: My answer is Qward as Earth-Three had good people.

[Philip Portelli]

Question 10: Mail is sent to a special JLA Post Office Box, presumably picked up by Snapper Carr as one of his duties. (This should mean that it's in Happy Harbor but I'm not sure of that...yet.)

[Philip Portelli]

Question 6: One time is in World's Finest Comics #141 (My'64).

[Richard Willis]

Number 9: Nick Fury popped into my head, but he's not DC .It was in the Silver Age. He was referred to as a "Colonel in the CIA" in Fantastic Four #21 (even though there is no such thing). Colonel may have been a thing in the OSS, which I believe was military, but civilian workers in the U.S. government have GS (Government Service) rankings, not military ranks. Fury was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, a battlefield commission) during the Korean War in  Sgt. Fury Annual #1 (1965). In Sgt. Fury Annual #3(AUG67) they were all (alive and well, in case there was suspense in those WWII stories) in Vietnam and now he was a colonel in SHIELD, complete with eyepatch. Aren't you glad you asked? 

 (Love the quiz, but this time I know none of the answers.

[Dave Palmer]

8.  Outside of, naturally, Detective John (the Martian Manhunter) Jones, who is the strongest officer on the Middletown Police Department?

I’m going with Mike Hanson from “The Super-Sleuth’s Bodyguard” from Detective Comics # 272, October 1959.